Please help me choose a Norway itinerary!?

Totally unrelated to any of this, but I just noticed in your signature that you're booked on the Indian Ocean/Madagascar cruise on neoRomantica. We did that cruise in 2011 (on plain old Romantica before the retrofit), and the itinerary was one of my favorites! (Except for some minor rerouting on our way into Seychelles because of the pirates.)

Totally unrelated to any of this, but I just noticed in your signature that you're booked on the Indian Ocean/Madagascar cruise on neoRomantica. We did that cruise in 2011 (on plain old Romantica before the retrofit), and the itinerary was one of my favorites! (Except for some minor rerouting on our way into Seychelles because of the pirates.)

:) Thank you for your feedback:) It will add to the excitement playing hide and seek with the pirates:D

I would think we would have "pirate drills" as the Dubai to Europe (visa versa) itineraries has.:D

But, in keeping with the topic, there are no pirates in Norwegian waters. Not that kind anyway:)

As the OP, I'm sorry for my lack of a response back- its back to school time here and my household has been crazy. I cannot tell you how much I appreciate everyone's thoughtful advice, especially I-Cruiser and Terry....your posts on these forums were part of the reason I wanted to visit Norway in the first place.

To Linda & Macaroni - I'm glad to know I'm not the only one who is so torn by this decision. I've been going crazy over what to do! Every time I think I have made up my mind one way or the other I change it again. As of today, I can get airfare with miles to any of the ports so that is not an issue. We have been to Southampton (London) as well as Copenhagen, but not Amsterdam, but picking a departure city is not the way I would select my cruise although that is a point in HAL's favor. I looked at the Hurtigruten but decided that is not for us, and I know I will sail on a Costa or MSC ship either. The Cunard ship did not have enough stops, so I am back to the same 3 I was originally trying to pick from. I would like a variety of scenery, wildlife and o try to get the best overall Norway experience I can. It doesn't have to include lots of fjords although I know I want Geirangerfjord as a must and anything else on top of that is a plus.

I have pretty much ruled out Princess, not only because the port times are too short but once I priced it for 3, I thought the cost was too high for what it was comparatively (I can go on Azamara for just slightly more). I had pretty much decided on NCL because I like the varied itinerary better and I like the stop in Molde so we can drive the Atlantic Road, however there are just too many posts about the bad NCL food and old ship that are scaring me. I know I am supposed to pick my cruise by itinerary not for the ship, but I don't want to be stuck for 14 days on a ship with really bad food :( We have never cruised on an older ship, and coming off years of Celebrity I think we may be really disappointed in NCL.

So now I need to decide if I should spend $9000 for HAL next year, or wait for 2017 itineraries and in the meantime book with Azamara for 2017. The HAL itinerary looks like it may spend too much time sailing and not include as many port stops, and I'm not sure about that. I also am concerned about all the reports of smoking on the balconies as my daughter is asthmatic and that would be a big problem if we had heavy smokers next to us. Azamara is more than I want to spend, but it looks like a great itinerary and I know it will be a great trip. (I-Cruiser only problem is no Alesund!) Not so sure my then 18 year old will have any other teenagers to travel with, but she said she doesn't care. Linda & Macaroni what have you decided? Thanks again to everyone especially I-Cruiser & Terry.

Well, BJ I actually had 4 cruises booked and I'm sure agent was ready to shoot me. lol. One was NCL which I think I wrote that I didn't have a good experience on about 1.5 years ago and decided that just maybe the ship does have something to do to make the cruise better. #1 was the itinerary. So that ruled out NCL. Next was Royal Caribbean which was two b2b cruises and decided this cruise was about my heritage so wanted to spend more time in Norway so Royal went out the door--now there was Princess vs Holland America and I liked the itinerary better so Holland America won. We are now booked on one cruise instead of 4--wait I still got to cancel Princess lol. More fjords was a factor with Holland and going way up north and the thought of a new ship was kind of cool. This cruise is pretty dang pricey but decided it will be worth it.

Now the problem is pre-cruise hotel and I got two hotels booked. lol.

I've never had this much confusion on a cruise.

Starting to investigate what to do in ports.

Let me know what you guys decide Macaroni and BJ.

Linda

As the OP, I'm sorry for my lack of a response back- its back to school time here and my household has been crazy. I cannot tell you how much I appreciate everyone's thoughtful advice, especially I-Cruiser and Terry....

Thank you for your kind words.

If there is anything you need to know about the ports just let me know.

Lars

Hurtigruten IS a cruise line, but also a freighter and a ferry. The cabins are quite comparable to a regular commercial cruise line. There is no show room (not missed by me) or pool (there is a hot tub and sauna), and there is a gym. There is a small theater where a few films about Norway were shown. No casino (again, not missed). I don't need shows or games or bingo or "art" auctions on a cruise. There is no "dressing" for dinner either. Breakfast and lunch are wonderful and plentiful buffets, with a 3 course "set" menu for dinner (always locally sourced). Some of the ships now have a specialty restaurant for an additional price. I was on the MS Trollfjord, which does have one, but never ate there. The scenery is the entertainment, and going ashore at ports.

Many of the small ports are only 15-30 minute stops...just long enough to load/unload freight (some amazing pier crew to watch!), for a few passengers to embark or disembark. You can get off at any of the ports and walk around. Some of the larger ports have shore excursions, and either longer port stays, or excursions where you get on a bus or small boat at one port and meet the ship at the next port. All announcements, newsletters, tours, etc. were in Norwegian, English, and German.

The crew were friendly and helpful, the food fabulous, and the scenery beyond compare.

Is the NCL ship you are worried about the Star? We sailed the Star last summer to the Baltics and yes, the food in the main dining room was generally unacceptable. However, some of the specialty restaurants were outstanding (Moderno is an excellent Brazilian restaurant, and their steak restaurant was very good also). If food is really important, I'd just add the cost of the unlimited dining plan to the base cost of your cruise and then compare them. The Star wasn't quite as nice as Princess or HAL, but it certainly was comfortable and I was really glad I went with them since they had the best itinerary for our family(we needed to leave from Copenhagen since we had a 3 year old and couldn't extend our vacation and the Regal/Royal weren't docking directly in Stockholm last year). Basically we chose our Baltic cruise for the itinerary, and while I am no expert on Norway, I'd suggest you do the same for a trip there. If the NCL itinerary is the best, I'd encourage you to take it since you will be fine at specialty dining for dinner, and there is always a couple of very good items at the lunch buffet (the carving stations were very good, and there was sometimes really good Indian food). At least one, and usually two dishes were excellent in the lunch buffet.